1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to a memory card device and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a memory card pack capable of using a plurality of memory cards.
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0010919, filed Feb. 4, 2006, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A memory card generally includes a nonvolatile memory chip, such as NAND type or NOR type flash memory, which retains stored data in the absence of supplied power. Examples of devices which utilize memory cards digital cameras, MP3 players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and the like.
A memory chip used on the memory card typically includes a memory array containing a plurality of memory cells. In some cases, a control circuit that controls the memory array of the memory chip is also loaded in the memory card. Such a memory card that includes a memory array and a control circuit that controls the memory array is available commercially in many forms such as, for example, a memory stick card, a smart media card, a secure digital card, a mini secure digital card, an extreme digital card, and a multimedia card. Each of these forms of memory cards is available in a variety of configurations and memory capacities.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a memory card used for a digital camera. Referring to FIG. 1, a digital camera 10 includes a slot 15 in which a memory card 20 complying with a certain specification is inserted to store and read data. In general, more than one slot 15 may be provided to hold more than one memory card. The number of memory cards 20 used in the digital camera 10 may depend on a number of factors such as, for example, the size of the digital camera 10, the storage capacity of the camera 10, and so on.
The memory card 20 has an external connection pad 21 at its outer side. The external connection pad 21 may be used for an electrical connection with the digital camera 10. In order to achieve a competitive price and also facilitate capacity expansion (i.e., memory expansion), digital mobile device providers usually provide low-capacity memory cards such as, for example, 16MB or 32MB, and a memory card slot for the capacity expansion. Due to the increase in the number of uses provided by a single digital mobile device (e.g., a digital camera can be used these days to capture movies in addition to still photographs), there is a growing demand for high capacity storage devices. Therefore, consumers are more prone to buying high capacity memory cards or more than one memory card that is usable in digital mobile devices having expandable memory slots.
However, memory cards for different digital devices are not compatible with each other. This incompatibility exists because different digital devices use memory cards of different specifications and each existing memory card itself has a control circuit chip that is peculiar to the type of memory card. Accordingly, in order to expand the memory capacity on a digital device, a user must buy a high-capacity memory card dedicated to a certain application device.